The furious Argentine waited until pre-season to gave his squad a right rollicking.

He blasted them for being mentally weak in their last four matches of the campaign.

As they tried in vain to catch Leicester, Spurs stars lost their heads and vital points - picking up just two out of the final four games.

Their shock final day 5-1 defeat at relegated Newcastle even allowed bitter north London rivals Arsenal to snatch second spot.

“They need to hear from the manager my feelings, how I felt after the season, because there was no time to share [then],” said Pochettino.

“You know, I wanted to kill all of them! And I did not have the opportunity to kill them. I kill myself too.

“I just told them, ‘If I have the opportunity to kill you then I kill everyone’. I am very honest with them.”

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“I wanted to kill all of them!”

Mauricio Pochettino

Pochettino did not want to go into precise details, adding: “I have two ways to explain, one official, one not official, one polite and one not polite. I prefer to be polite, and to be a gentleman.

“Football is tactical, physical and technical, but it is also mental. More mental than many years ago.

“And today, to be strong in your mind, and how to improve, is important.

“We need to know how to improve our mental state to move on as a team. This was key in the last few games in last season.

“It is not tactical, it is not philosophical, because after two years we know very well how we need to play. It is here in our heads that we need to improve.”

Spurs infamously went into meltdown at Stamford Bridge on May 2 as they became the first team in Premier League history to pick up nine yellow cards in a single game as they drew 2-2 with Chelsea to end their title hopes.

After the match Moussa Dembele was handed a six-match ban by the FA for gouging Blues striker Diego Costa in the eye.

They were already missing England star Dele Alli as he had been suspended for punching West Brom’s Claudio Yacob in the stomach a week earlier.

“It’s the biggest lesson,” added Pochettino. “We don’t need someone from the outside to tell us what happened.

“Sometimes we were very focused and other times it was like a war again.

“After Chelsea it was difficult to manage the situation because it was impossible to win the title and then in your mind you are tired.

“We need to show that we have learned from it because, if not, then we will show we are not intelligent or clever.”

Pochettino, who refused to publicly rebuke Alli for his moment of madness against West Brom, admitted he could have handled the pressure better.

“Yes, of course I made mistakes,” he said. “But I cannot show my weakness.”

But he ruled out employing a full-time sport psychologist to try to keep his men mentally strong.

“I believe in it, but I think that we’re all sports psychologists,” he added.

“We use them when we have some personal problem or difficulty, but for that I think the coaching staff is very qualified.”

If Pochettino and his men - who kick off their season at Everton tomorrow - thought last season was tough then they face an even bigger challenge this time, with the Champions League also to compete for.

“It’s true that in our training session always we try to push more,” he added. “Why? Because now we need to spend more energy than before.

“Maybe when you’re in the Europa League you can rotate, but now in the Champions League they all want to play and all are excited to play. Maybe in the group you have to play against Real Madrid and Barcelona.

“It’s always a struggle for the teams that play Champions League because it’s difficult to rotate because all the teams are all at your level.”